


Crystal Clear

by JenningsAsYetUntitled



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-24
Updated: 2019-09-24
Packaged: 2020-10-27 16:15:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20763254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenningsAsYetUntitled/pseuds/JenningsAsYetUntitled
Summary: Clear Quartz, or as she calls herself, Crystal, has never been a fan of the Great Diamond Authority, always looking for an opportunity to desert their empire entirely, but that chance hasn't arisen yet. However, when a rebellion insurgency on a faraway planet prompts White Diamond to send reinforcements, she feels a fire begin to burn inside of her, and in the heat of the moment, decides to escape from her post! Soon, she finds herself awaken on a planet she's never seen before - with other Gems living on it! What is this odd new planet? And what does her arrival mean for this planet's population?





	Crystal Clear

The  _ Paragon  _ soared through the unending expanse of space, in all of its brilliant, perfect glory. Its hallways pristine and spotless, and the Gems within marching together with an unorthodox level of synchronization. Not a peep could be heard, and the only sound ringing through the sterile corridors was the plodding of heavy footsteps. One group of Quartz soldiers in particular, arranged into a precise diamond pattern, marched through a tall doorway, which shut behind them so neatly that it left no sign of any gaps or a frame at all.

These Quartzes, with skin as fair as the ground they walked on, and flowing, straight hair that bounced with every footstep, arranged themselves immediately into simple rows and columns, in complete silence. They looked out of a window that provided an uninterrupted view of the cosmos and the stars peppered throughout it. Uninterrupted, until another Gem entered the room. 

She wore high heels which clapped against the floor apprehensively, and a formal suit, monochrome like the rest of her body. Once she reached the front of the room, she turned to face the band of Quartzes, a glower spreading across her face.

“Listen here, Clear Quartzes.” The head Gem spoke firmly and without any sort of emotion. Upon hearing her speaking, the Quartzes twisted their bulky arms around the white diamond emblems on their uniforms in salute, not daring to break it. “You might be wondering why we’re here, or where we’re going. Now, since the more reckless ones in the crowd have no chance of deserting us from Homeworld anymore, I can disclose this information.”

She turned her back to her subordinates, revealing her gemstone. It was located on the back of her head, a perfectly white, faceted square. She pointed to a lone, dim star out of the window as it continued to flicker and twinkle like a candle in the breeze.

“Our Diamond is experiencing trouble with quashing a rebellion in her new colony, and they have become extremely organized. Just today there was an attack on Blue Diamond’s very own Cloud Arena.” She clenched her fist, the words she spat becoming increasingly quivery and filled with contempt. “We have been sent to aid the Diamonds and eliminate this rabble’s leader, a Rose Quartz, as quickly as possible. Do I make myself clear?”

“Yes, Goshenite!” The voices of the Quartzes rang through the room, a single, monotonous melody. All of them… except for one. Goshenite, the head Gem, did not notice, and she turned back around to address them all one more time.

“You are to fall in until I return, now.” 

The Quartzes responded with the usual “Yes, Goshenite!” as she left. Except for one. In the third row from the back of the room, and the second to the left, a Quartz stayed silent again. Then, she took a step forward. Then several more steps, until she broke rank. Her associate soldiers looked at her shocked, their faces painted with silent gasps. 

“Hey!” shouted one of them standing next to her. “Did you hear that? She said to fall in line! Are you asking to be shattered or what?!” Despite the obedient Quartz’s heckling, the odd Quartz out continued to trudge to the window in disbelief.

_ A rebellion? So there are other Gems like me, then _ , she thought to herself as she gazed into out of the window at that dim, twinkling star. Behind her, the once-perfectly silent formation had since broken down into a drone of murmuring and squabbling over this rogue action. She continued to stare into space, her reflection fading more into view the closer she walks.

“7XC! What’s gotten into you lately, huh?” the obedient Gem exclaimed, still adamant on getting some sense out of the rebel.

She, however, turned back to the crowd, hand to her chin as if deep in thought. Her face was scrunched up in reluctance, though it soon melted into a calm, ever so slight smile. “...I’d prefer it if you all called me Crystal,” she said. Immediately afterwards, the crowd’s murmuring devolved into loud bickering, filled with shouts of incredulence and rage, like what this ‘Crystal’ had said was a transgression of the highest degree.

Then, Goshenite returned.

Seeing all of this disorder caused Goshenite to stop in her tracks, and stamp her foot on the floor strongly enough to leave a dent. The Quartzes quickly looked back at Goshenite, all at once, and assumed their ordinary positions, shutting themselves up as suddenly as they began mingling. Her eyes darted throughout the room, from the Quartzes, to the dent in the floor, to Crystal, becoming more and more suspicious by the second. “What… is… the meaning of this?!” she screamed, pointing violently at Crystal. “What part of ‘fall in’ do you not understand?! Get back into position before I make you!”

Crystal did not budge an inch, not for Goshenite. She was never going to take an order from her again, and instead chose to make a beeline for the exit. Goshenite sputtered at this, stomping up to her, hot on her heels. The other Quartzes, meanwhile, watched intently, their eyes batting between the two parties like they were playing a very tense game of tennis. It was Goshenite who lost her temper first. “You are to come back here right now, so I can revitalize you. This can never happen again, do you hear me? Never,” she fumed. Crystal, on the other hand, had a simple response.

“No.”

Crystal took off through the doorway, accompanied by a chorus of gasps from the Quartzes. She didn’t look back, and just kept on running as fast as her brawny legs could carry her. The footsteps were erratic, discordant, heavy against the lustrous floor, but not all of them came from her.

“Glass units,” announced Goshenite through a tannoy. “I want you to neutralize that rogue Clear Quartz, shattered or disrupted.” As she said this, several smaller Gems turned a corner in front of Crystal, cutting her off. These cuts of Glass each possessed cubic heads and bodies, with limbs just as polygonal, and a gemstone comprised of a small, clear circle where their eyes should be. Their mouths remained straight and stoic despite the stress of the situation, and they scuttled across the ship with surprising speed for their size.

There was no other option for Crystal than to swivel on her heel and find another way to escape. The Glasses continued to pursue her relentlessly, getting ever closer by the second. Meter after meter of corridor, the _ Paragon  _ felt like an infinite labyrinth to Crystal. After not long, she could begin to sense the sharp, piercing fingers of a Glass press against her back, but the shock of it spurred her on, to go faster than she ever could. She curled into a ball and revved herself up, shooting off down the hallways as a perfect sphere of blinding, white light.

She careened through the ship so quickly that she almost missed the escape pod bay - again, brilliant white just like the rest of the ship - entirely. Grinding to a halt next to a simple column and hiding behind it so that the Glasses bypassed her, Crystal made her way to the nearest escape pod and listened out for the Glasses and their skittery footsteps slowly fading into silence. It was like music to her ears. “Wow. I certainly wouldn’t have expected Goshenite to leave these pods unguarded,” she remarked to herself, out loud.

Too loud.

The frantic tapping of the Glasses’ running became audible again, attracted to the sound of Crystal’s voice like a colony of bats. Crystal clenched her fist and made straight for one of the pods, desperately trying to open its doors, but she soon found the Glasses to be scampering right on top of her, clawing at the clear, octagonal-faceted gemstone on her forehead. Crystal pawed at the control panel next to the door, pressing whatever buttons her hands could reach. She had closed her eyes and gritted her teeth, like she was preparing for the worst. It was only after the panel let out a shrill buzz and the doors opened that she opened her eyes in a flurry of relief and fell backwards into the pod.

Crystal took several deep breaths, still collapsed on the escape pod’s floor. There was very little within, only a dashboard with several buttons of unknown function. Once she realized that she’d pulled off an escape, she sat up. She looked at her hands, her legs, and hugged herself tightly. She laughed.  _ I seriously did it?! I can’t… I can’t believe it!  _ She thought, as her laughing grew ever more joyful. When she opened her eyes and saw the door shut in front of her, however, her joy trailed off. There were some Glasses in the pod with her.

Goshenite, arms folded, watched from the  _ Paragon _ ’s bridge as a small sphere shot out of the ship, and into space. She didn’t let it go out of her sight, and she found herself craning her neck ninety degrees to catch where it went. Out of the finest corner of her vision, she saw that the pod did indeed have an aimed trajectory; it was rocketing towards a planet, a small, blue-green sphere with a surface covered by tempestuous clouds - except for one spot, which was glaringly… calm. No cloud cover over a small radius, shaped like a perfect circle.

That’s where Crystal’s pod was heading.


End file.
